


Aht Plants A Flower

by alacruxe



Category: Radiant Historia
Genre: Background Relationships, Gen, Post-Canon, general feelings of canon-typical melancholia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22827739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alacruxe/pseuds/alacruxe
Summary: There's a festival in Alistel. Aht takes part.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	Aht Plants A Flower

**Author's Note:**

> Radiant Historia is a good game.

Alistel feels smaller than it did when Aht last came through, but she's not sure if it's because of any changes in architecture or if it's simply a difference in perspective now that she's a little taller. She definitely does notice a change in the air quality—it's less thin, denser in Mana—and there are more people in the streets. The crowds are more diverse, too, to be sure. Aht doesn't think she's ever seen this many Satyros in one place outside of Celestia.

But that's because Raul is holding some kind of festival, or...something. Aht actually isn't sure. She's not sure about what Raul really does or is capable of doing, period. She thinks maybe he's something like the patriarch, except humans don't seem to have those. Whatever he is, he's important, and more important now than he was before.

It looks like the whole thing hasn't really started yet. Aht remembers when that weird man Hugo was giving his speech and everything got really dangerous and scary, and the atmosphere is nothing like that. There's no tension, no animosity. There's just people everywhere, being kind of loud and stuff. Probably the kind of crowd Liese would find exciting.

Come to think of it, Aht hasn't seen her here. That's a little surprising. Maybe she's back in Celestia with her husband and the baby.

Anyway, there's faces everywhere and Aht doesn't recognize any. As she passes through the crowds and moves further into the city, into the deeper wards where the castle lies, she feels small again, as though no time has passed. She has to wonder if that's what Stocke felt like when he walked through time. Maybe it's better if she doesn't follow that line of thinking very far.

She doesn't really get the chance to, anyway, because her hoof snags on a loose brick and she topples to the ground in a dusty heap, her cape somewhat cushioning her fall and fanning out behind her like some grand halo. She's too stunned to notice at first, but as she shakes herself back into awareness, she can see the blurred edges of red clothing and yellow hair begin to coalesce in front of her.

At first, her heart begins to palpitate and her ears begin to ring as she starts to recognize _him_ —but the recognition quickly fades along with the haze in her vision, and she realizes quickly that she is mistaken. Indeed, the figure standing before her and offering her a helping hand is a human man in red. Indeed, it's a man she knows; except it isn't Stocke.

"You all right?" Rosch calls above the din, his eyebrows turned up in the middle like he's really worried. "Man, it's a good thing I found you here before the start of the show. You could've been trampled."

Aht tries to rein in her disappointment (and she thinks she succeeds admirably, for what it's worth) as she lets Rosch pull her upright, her tiny hand completely dwarfed by his own. And it's his human hand, too! She can't even imagine what her hand would look like in the palm of his enormous Gauntlet. "Thanks, Rosch," she says, an easy smile spreading across her face. "Does that mean it's starting soon?"

"Yeah, just about." As if on cue, the crowd begins to roar. They're all lined up in front of the castle, forming a total barrier to Aht's view. She can tell she's pouting—and she's been trying to get better about that, because Uncle Vanoss says it's a little childish—because Rosch laughs one of those happy laughs he always does around Sonja when she frets over him. The kind he used to do around Stocke, too. "Here," he says, "I'll hold you up so you can see."

Aht lets him take her in his arms and set her on top of his shoulders, and it's surprisingly comfy up there, despite all the metal. It's a really great vantage point, too; she can see almost the whole castle square from here, and she notices right away when the doors swing open and Raul comes out.

He's still got his funny bucket hair and kind of tired-looking eyes, but Aht can tell there's an enthusiasm, a _youth_ in him that's entirely new. It's nice to see. It's nice to hear him speak, too, because he's not really talking with power or authority like Hugo did; he's just got this sort of warmth behind his voice that really makes Aht feel at home. It kind of reminds her of how Uncle Vanoss sounds when he's telling her dinner is ready.

Raul is doing a lot of talking, and Aht just starts to tune everything out after a while because it's not really the words themselves that are important; it's what they mean for Alistel. This warm and happy atmosphere is the result of all of Stocke's hard work guiding the world on its true path. It's also the result of Raul building a peaceful country from Alistel's war-torn remains. It's hard not to feel the pride radiating from every structure, every citizen, every corner of the city. Aht has to just take a moment to bask in it, to feel everyone's happiness surround her.

She's a little distracted by all of it, so she's caught by surprise when her perch suddenly starts moving. Aht lets out a squeak as she's tilted off her center, but she steadies herself quickly, and she watches as Rosch moves them both forward through the parting crowd. Before she knows it, she's right beside Raul, looking on at the crowd he's addressing. So many faces, human and Beastkind alike, and all of them so hopeful, so excited...

Before she even has a moment to register what's happening, Rosch is lowering her down from atop his shoulder, and suddenly she feels very small again. She doesn't think Raul is especially large for a human, but with his mantle of high status and with the amount of attention he commands from the people gathered, it really feels like he towers over her. In front of everyone with no real buffer, Aht feels as vulnerable and endangered as the time she'd been all alone and flanked by two hungry Gran Plain panthers. Back then, at least, Stocke had leapt to her rescue. Like this, she only has herself.

But Raul's eyes are kind, and he's holding something out to her, and now that her focus is being drawn away from the masses surrounding her, Aht has a moment to ground herself. She recognizes the object just about immediately as it's tucked into her hands: it's the seedling of a Celestia Iris. "Today," she hears Raul say, and this time it's quieter, directed at her and not the rest of the crowd, "we honor the unity of our peoples. And I can think of no better representative of that unity than yourself, Lady Aht. Would you care to do the first planting?"

"First" doesn't seem quite right. Aht knows there are other Celestia Irises here; the planters at the edge of the square are full of them. Maybe Raul means a different kind of first, though. She has to admit she hadn't really been paying that much attention during his speech. Maybe the whole occasion is about planting flowers, and maybe this is just the first of the day.

In that sense, this feels...almost like fate. None of this had been planned, as far as she knows. No one had invited her here; she'd come of her own volition, drawn by the Shaman's calling. Still, somehow, her old friends had plucked her from among the rest, and now, here she is, about to take part in something monumental.

Aht smiles down at the tiny plant. "I will," she says.

Raul and Rosch each take one of her shoulders, and together they guide her to a bed of soil at the center of the square. It's apparently empty, at least to the naked eye, but she can tell that every inch of dirt here is suffused with Mana. Even though she doesn't think she fully understands all this, she can tell it's something important, and that's what matters.

Using only her bare hands, Aht digs a little hole just deep enough to bury the bulb beneath the earth. As she begins to cover it, there's a warmth at her back, a strength in her fingers, as though somebody is embracing her from behind and very gently guiding her hands. Somehow it hurts her heart to think about it, and there's a little sting at the corners of her eyes, but Aht is older now, braver now, and she refuses to give in to sadness or regret. Not during such a joyous moment as this.

There's applause behind her as she backs away and dusts her hands free of the dirt, and she turns to face the crowd with a smile and a bow. Aht tries her best to channel Liese in that moment, and she feels like it works, because her audience is loving it; but Aht is no performer, she's a guide of lost spirits, and she's not about to let the adoration of strangers get to her head. Remaining humble is important. That's a lesson Isla would have taught her, Aht thinks.

Once she's stepped aside, there are others from the crowd who come forward to plant their own flowers, and the sight really is something. After a while, though, it starts to become harder to find any empty space to occupy, and Aht has to take her leave to get a little fresh air.

She catches Raul's eye, at least, and he smiles and makes a gesture toward the outer wards, which Aht takes to mean that it's okay if she goes off by herself now. She bows politely, and with a flourish of her cape, she departs the square, making for the inn—or where she remembers it being, anyway.

As it turns out, Alistel isn't changed enough that she can't find her way there. Aht arrives at the inn and takes a seat just outside. It's still mid-day, so there's not much point in trying to check in a room, but this is at least a peaceful, quiet spot where she can just be alone for a while.

It really is nice, feeling like she's played a part in something special. But that's never been her reason for doing what she does. She's not a performer like Liese, or a leader of the people like Raul. She's just who she is, and she's all right with that. Aht is sure Stocke felt the same way, at the end of everything.


End file.
